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What do toddlers in wheelchairs and former Secretaries of State have in common? They can’t escape the clutches of the TSA. So don’t think you can run through that line.

Freelance journalist Matthew Cole was at LaGuardia Airport last Friday when he came upon something you definitely don’t see every day: a TSA agent patting down Henry Kissinger, Nobel Laureate and former Secretary of State.

In the search area, Kissinger was subjected to what Cole called “the full Monty” of the usual groping. “He stood with his suit jacket off, and he was wearing suspenders. They gave him the full pat-down. None of the agents seemed to know who he was,” he says.

But despite the treatment, Kissinger took it swimmingly in stride. He went on to ask his aide to find out what the airline would be serving for breakfast, joking whether schnitzel was available. After the news broke, he released a statement Tuesday praising the TSA. As Politico reported:

[Kissinger said] it’s “not unusual” for him to be patted down during airport security screening. He says he wears a brace on his foot and can’t remove his shoes.

Kissinger praised agents of the federal Transportation Security Administration for their “professionalism” and “courtesy” while performing what he calls “an important job.”

Erica Ho was previously a reporter for TIME in Hong Kong where she wrote about technology, pop culture and Asian international affairs. Before that, she worked at Gizmodo, Lifehacker and AOL. She now currently runs Map Happy, a travel-oriented site.